The policy to deinstitutionalize children with mental disabilities of the residential institutions of Orhei and Hancesti is mostly implemented formally and the interest of children is not a priority at the deinstitutionalization preparation stage, says a report by the Office of the Children’s Ombudsperson for the Protection of Children’s Rights, IPN reports.
The report reveals cases when children placed in the professional parent assistance service or admitted to placement centers are no longer paid social welfare, but this is against the law. The families that accept to take care of some of these children are not always prepared psychologically and financially to look after a child with mental disabilities.
In a roundtable meeting on December 18, Ombudswoman for the Protection of Children’s Rights Maia Banarescu said the approaches made by families looking after deinstitutionalized children and tutelage authorities show there are no high-quality community services from which these children should mandatorily benefit.
“We travelled to districts and met with beneficiates of such services. We saw children who haven’t been visited by anyone for half a year. We saw mothers who are unable to provide the assistance needed by the child. Parents told us that they weren’t prepared from psychobiological viewpoint and do not know how to behave towards these children,” stated Maia Banarescu.
Report author Elena Draghici said the situation witnessed at the residential institutions in Hancesti and Orhei shows the process of preparing tutored children for community life is slow. The regulations concerning the functioning of residential institutions do not specify child care, education and rehabilitation standards. In both of the institutions, the number of tutored adults is three times higher than of children, while of medical specialists is higher than of social specialists. There are not enough nurses, logopedists and psycho-therapists, while the absence of psychologists is a pressing problem.
“The mandatory health insurance policies are no longer valid when the persons come of age given that the law stipulates that the state provides persons with severe disabilities and children with health policies. This can be described as bad or even inhuman treatment,” stated Elena Draghici.
The report was compiled with the support of UNICEF. It covers the period between 2015 and the first half of 2017. In the period, nine children of the Hancesti residential institution and three children of the Orhei residential institution have been deinstitutionalized and integrated into the community. Recently, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection said six boys of the Orhei residential institution for children with mental disabilities will live in a social home in the town and will learn to cope by themselves.
